Midwife · Healer · Teacher · San Marcos La Laguna
Embodied wisdom rooted
in ancestral Maya medicine
Teaching, healing, and working from personally embodied experiential wisdom that is palpable in her presence.
Lake Atitlán · Guatemala
About Mariu
Maria Eugenia Gobbato — known as Mariu — was born and raised in Guatemala and has made San Marcos La Laguna, Lake Atitlán, her home since 2010. She is a dedicated mother to three, a well-regarded midwife, a renowned massage therapist, and an experienced teacher.
Mariu's path began when she lived in Spain for four years, where she birthed her first two children in a beautiful birthing home in the mountains of Catalunya. This experience marked the trajectory of her life. Through birthing and becoming a mother, she discovered a deep calling to support other women and create safe, respectful, and dignified spaces for birth.
She has been apprenticing and working with local Maya midwives, herbalists, healers, and ajq'ij for over 13 years — learning and integrating ancestral Maya medicine as it was meant to be lived: as an integral part of community life.
Signature Course
This 45-hour introduction course to Maya Abdominal Massage gives you the training to perform this ancestral healing technique on yourself, deepening the connection to our bodies. It also offers direct contact to the foundation of Maya healing — a space to connect and immerse yourself in this divine art of service so you can then offer it to others, as done by the Maya midwives.
We practice holding space for others and offering this healing art. It is a highly effective healing modality used for a wide range of conditions, bringing balance back to the body: spiritual, physical, emotional, energetic, and mental. It is used for men and children as well, and specifically for women after giving birth, to help the uterus contract back to its original position and size. During the week we learn the essentials to practice and give the massage to others, working on each other and incorporating as much practical hands-on work as possible.
Contraindications: During menstruation, pregnancy and with IUD.
What This Course Includes
2026 Course Dates
Tap to message Mariu directly on WhatsApp to reserve your spot.
The Holistic Approach
Mariu works from the holistic understanding that the physical, energetic, mental, and emotional bodies make up our whole spiritual-animal being. There is no way to separate and fragmentalize these parts. Working on one affects the other and vice versa.
What is felt in the body is a direct manifestation of the experiences we have lived and how we have — or haven't — processed them. We carry cellular memory as energy in the tissues of our bodies until we release it. Body work helps us release stored or blocked energy, understanding and honoring our bodies and our process.
"As we tap into our womb, the source of our inherent power to bring forth life — the source of our creative life force energy."— Mariu Gobbato
What Mariu Offers
A carefully curated 12-year-evolved self-healing journey into the world of Maya healing. Where time slows down and we feel more. The massage, faja, belly binding, steams, and temazcal — all in service of the womb. Available as group courses, retreats, and private sessions.
14+ years of tailored bodywork therapy. Mariu blends reflexology, deep tissue, Swedish, chi nei tsang, neuromuscular massage, tei shin therapy, reiki, and energy medicine into individually crafted sessions unique to each client's needs.
Merging internal massage, tantric massage, sacred spot work, yoni mapping, emotional and trauma release, psycho-emotional healing, and energy medicine with her deep midwifery knowledge and anatomy of women's bodies.
Trained at CODECOT in Quetzaltenango — founded by indigenous midwives for indigenous midwives — Mariu has been attending births in her community for 6 years, creating safe, respectful, and dignified spaces for women to birth in.
Immersive retreat experiences weaving ancestral Maya medicine, body wisdom, and healing arts. A space where deep healing and transformation crystallize into your being. Contact Mariu to inquire about upcoming offerings.
Rooted in 13+ years of apprenticeship with elder Maya midwives, herbalists, and ajq'ij across Guatemala. Mariu carries and shares the wisdom of the midwives as counselors, wise women, village doctors — respected pillars of Maya community life.
Healing Modalities
Community Work
After years of working with local midwives, Mariu founded The Midwife Project — a community-based midwifery association that supports indigenous midwives by creating spaces where they can feel empowered, reconnect to their roots, and feel resourced to provide high-quality, evidence-based, and culturally appropriate health care to the women in their communities.
The project offers a 6-month midwifery education program, an Oral History Collection Project, and holds the vision of building a birthing center and education community space.
Follow the Journey
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Get in Touch
Mariu is based in San Marcos La Laguna, Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. She offers in-person sessions, courses, and retreats — and occasional online consultations.
